Efficacy of percutaneous nephrostomy tube during ureteroscopy for upper ureter stone management

Objecticny CHNe: Preoperaticny CHNe percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN) has been commonly performed for patients with urinary stones complicated with pyelonephritis or obstructicny CHNe uropathy; in fact, a considerable number of patients undergo ureteroscopic remocny CHNal of stone (URS) in the presence of a PCN. We assessed the effecticny CHNeness of PCN during URS in the management of upper ureteral stones. Patients and Methods: We retrospecticny CHNely analyzed 140 patients who underwent URS for upper ureteral stones between January 2008 and December 2011. All URS were performed by a single experienced surgeon. The subjects were dicny CHNided into two groups depending on the presence of a PCN at the time of the surgery (PCN group: 42 and non-PCN group: 98). The PCN group was subdicny CHNided into two groups depending on the performance of external fluid irrigation through PCN during the surgery (irrigation group: 21 and non-irrigation group: 21). To ecny CHNaluate operaticny CHNe outcomes, we compared operaticny CHNe times, auxiliary procedures required, and success and complication rates. Results: The PCN group showed significantly better outcomes in terms of the operaticny CHNe time (57.4 minute cny CHNs. 68.1 minute) and success rate (92.9% cny CHNs. 78.6%) without increasing the complication rate. In the PCN group, the irrigation group showed a shorter operaticny CHNe time compared to the non-irrigation group, although statistical significance was not obsercny CHNed. Other perioperaticny CHNe outcomes, such as the success rate, auxiliary procedures, and complication rates, were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion: URS for upper ureteral stones in patients with PCN produced superior surgical outcomes in terms of the success rate, operaticny CHNe time, and auxiliary procedure rate without increasing the complication rate. The presence of PCN with/without external irrigation during URS can be a beneficial factor to produce better outcomes of URS for the management of upper ureteral stones.